Cheers, Please excuse the previous message with dive brakes in the title, as
after I typed the subject, some fool hit the Send button.
The subject may seem flippant, but I have always had the advantage
of being able to vary the descent rate during an emergency (or practice for
same) by changing the lift/drag component, courtesy of a number of
forward-looking designers. from the Vampire wing brakes, thru F86 fuselage
panels to the TriStar magnificent floating liftdump panels, there has always
been an opportunity to control excessive speed/height in an emergency.
Knowing this, the mental processes are immensely easier to
control and execute. This is the culmination of just under 35 minutes of
unplanned glider time (spread over 40 years and several events). None of
this makes me an expert, but I am a consumer......
Having planned in Graham Clarke's landing radar, and Frantz's
immaculate AoA iundicator, there is one more device which would set my mind
at ease. It is a "dive brake" (spoiler, liftdump, speed brake) system.
While it may be very simple in operation, it is most sensitive in control
and security aspects. It occurred to me that I am not qualified to
experiment with the design - although I would be happy to air-test the
prototype at my own risk.
Naturally a number of variations come to mind - the Sabre panels
would require heavy buttressing, the Vampire trailing edge plates excessive
wing mods, the Hunter belly barrel much the same, and the advertised
vertical wing plates expensive revision. However, there are simple
forward-hinged belly panels which might be activated by Nigel Charles'
cooling panel rollers against a spring and there is the very sensitive
throat of the flaps. There may be other alternatives, but these two require
the lesser mechanism and may easily be incorporated retroactively.
The trick is to design a system which avoids jamming,
inadvertent extension and rapid, secure retraction. It must be faultless for
obvious reasons. It must also not interfere with the proper functioning of
flaps, lift surfaces or flight controls (blanking the tail is an example).
All of that is outside my bailliewick by several hundred metres,
so that Slap! is the sound of a gauntlet hitting the Drafting Table - a
challenge to contribute what I think is a very useful device to an already
amazing machine.
Will anyone pick up my glove?
Happy (and successful) landings,
Ferg Kyle
A064
|